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MEUCE Journalists Workshop: Media and the coverage of the Ukraine-Russian crisis (FIU)

MEUCE Journalists Workshop: Media and the coverage of the Ukraine-Russian crisis (FIU)

Event information

Start:

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, 08:00AM

End:

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, 10:00AM

Venue:

Coral Gables

Caught between the EU and Russia Media Coverage of the Ukrainian Crisis:A view from the Americas

After a fragile ceasefire and presidential promises of a political solution by Putin, Obama, and European Union heads of state, open military clashes continue in Ukraine. Despite electoral and diplomatic assurances to the contrary, fears of an eventual Russian invasion and of an equally unpredictable NATO response persist. Meanwhile, negotiations over closer relations with the European Union persist, further intensifying the situation.

Inside the country, defenders of the newly elected Ukrainian president, Mr. Petro Poroshenko, welcome him as a national hero, a leader determined to save his motherland. But foes dismiss the billionaire as a racist, a harsh oligarch set to orchestrate a “cleansing” war against Russian-speaking minorities across the republic. The truth about this pragmatic president, others say, lies somewhere in between: neither a hero nor a neofascist, Poroshenko may simply be another businessman turned president seeking to add political success to his resume in Europe and elsewhere.

Have journalists, especially in the Americas, informed fairly and accurately about this crisis in Ukraine? Have they challenged the ever-persistent Cold War rhetoric, and become free from the impassioned journalism of the East-West Divide? In the era of Internet and social media, news is expected to serve the diversity of global and local audiences, a hard task when historical, economic, sociopolitical, and environmental contexts are to be, if not reflected, at least considered in every single report. Decontextualized information is perhaps one of the most evident and unacceptable defects in contemporary journalism and other mass communication.

We wish to invite you to a working breakfast to discuss the nature of journalistic representations of Ukraine’s political and military crisis, with a particular emphasis on Spanish-language publications and the Americas. How do you judge the current state of reporting? What would you recommend for the future?